Potential issue with pumpkin wine fermentation

[buffalofrenchy]

Hello
I posted this issue in the october wine of the month thread but I am making another thread just for more exposure...
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/october-2014-wine-month-club-46988/index2.html


I am doing this recipe:

Pumpkin Wine Recipe – 1 Gallon Yield

Looking for a wine that is good in the fall? Maybe seeing pumpkin beer has got you bummed out if your a wine maker. Well this is the recipe that you want to do if you want to make a pumpkin wine. With this wine you can either produce a super dry wine which will be around 18% or a sweeter wine, it’s all based off the wine yeast.

If you wanted to go the high alcohol route use Lalvin K1V-1116 or Lalvin EC-1118. If you wanted to have a sweet wine use, Red Star Côte des Blancs. This will get you about 13% with 5% residual sugar. If you wanted a little less sweet I would recommend Lalvin 71B-1122.

This is one of those recipes that you want to get a early start, it takes some time to get done with this recipe. Make sure you have plenty of time.

Pumpkin Wine
Yield: 1 Gallon Batch

5 lbs grated pumpkin flesh
2 lbs finely granulated sugar
1 tsp pectic enzyme
.5 oz citric acid
1.5 tsp yeast nutrient
1/4 tsp yeast energizer
1 finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet
6-1/2 pts water
Wine yeast (see above and choose)


Directions:

Take pumpkin flesh and grate the pumpkin flesh. (Don’t place chunks in a blender and attempt to chop them.)
Take water bring water to a boil and stir in the sugar until dissolved.
Take off the heat, and then put pumpkin flesh in primary.
Pour boiling water over pumpkin.
Take mixture and cool to room temperature and add crushed Campden tablet.
Take cover and put on top of primary and allow to sit 8-10 hours.
Add pectic enzyme and allow to sit overnight.
In the morning, add citric acid, yeast nutrient, energizer and yeast.
Cover primary and shake daily for about 5 days.
Take mixture that was in the primary and pour through a nylon straining bag and let pumpkin drip drain.
Transfer to secondary and put on an airlock.
If you do not get a full gallon of liquid, wait 5 days and top up as necessary.
Rack after two weeks
Rack again after additional 30 days, topping up and refitting airlock each time.
Set aside for 3 months and then rack, stabilize, sweeten if desired.
Wait 3 weeks rack into bottles.
Set aside and wait 1 year to drink.

I pitched the yeast on Monday evening.
Don't know if fermentation is going on.
Slow to no signs of airlock depending on the day.
I have seen one bubble going out in the airlock couple days ago. Today the airlock is resting low.

It is hard or impossible to measure the SG. At the beginning there was too much solid and now (probably due to the pectic enzyme) it is a thick sludge.

I have some montrachet yeast. Should I make a starter and pitch it? Could it be bad if I have two full bags of yeast in one gallon? The first one was Cote des Blancs and didn't make a starter.

 

[Julie]

what was your sg and what is it now? You should have this in a primary bucket instead of a carboy, if you do not have one at least take the airlock off. That must needs to get some oxygen to it.

 

[the_rayway]

Hey there Frenchy,
I saw your other posting as well - here is my .02cents:

Pop that guy into a nice big bucket (I'm definitely with Julie on this one), ensure the must is warm/not too hot, use a strainer to press gently down on the sludge on top in order to get a sample for an SG test, and then whip the snot out of it.

This way we're addressing several issues at once:
1) primary fermentation requires air, and lots of it to ensure the yeasties are happy (big bucket and whipping)
2) if the must is too hot or too cold, the yeast will struggle to take off
3) SG test will clear up any uncertainty there (seems like it might be a bit low based on your sugar...but US gallons are a bit smaller than my UK gallons)

If nothing happen within 24 hours, re-pitch with a nice starter using the EC-1118.
Let us know how it progresses!

 

[Turock]

I would get it out in a vat or bucket, like others suggested. Sometimes, vegetables can present some problem with fermentation, most likely because they are are low on YAN to begin with. Once it's out in a bucket, you may see the yeast take off. At that point, be sure to add your first half dose of nutrient and at 50% sugar reduction, add the second half. You might like to use yeast energizer on this ferment.

 

[buffalofrenchy]

It has been in a bucket this entire time although with a cover and airlock. I stirred it a couple times a day.
The SG can not be measured... maybe now perhaps but the first few days impossible since it was just shredded pumpkin in liquid so the hydrometer could not float. See picture in this post http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/october-2014-wine-month-club-46988/index2.html

 

[Julie]

Take a strainer and push it down into the must, syphon off the liquid the rises into the strainer and unsnap the lid, just let it sit loosely on top.

 

[buffalofrenchy]

Thank you all for the help and advice.

Just tried to measure the SG (without using a strainer) just to see if it is feasible. I poured some in a test jar and it is somewhere between 1.050 and 1.070... If I hold and release the hydrometer below 1.050 the hydrometer will move and settles at 1.050. If I start at 1.100 the hydrometer will move and settle slightly above 1.070...

I don't know the initial SG but I know I had 2 lbs of sugar in 0.8 gal water + shredded pumpkin...
This website estimates my initial SG just for the sugar water to be 1.114
http://homedistiller.org/calcs/sugar_sg

It for sure is not a fast fermentation but it might be moving more than I initially thought. It is day 5 today.
I did remove the lid and placed a towel over and will monitor the SG the best I can. Maybe it is okay, the recipe claims it will NOT ferment dry when using Cote des Blancs.

 

[buffalofrenchy]

No signs of fermentation after 24 hours so I pitched the EC-1118 and it is very active now but I am disappointed.
I wanted residual sugar and final SG under 14%. Now it might be 18% alcohol which is not appealing and dry. I can back sweeten sure but the alcohol bite at 18% might never go away... I actually considered dumping the whole thing just before adding the EC-1118.
Part of me is also considering trying to cold crash it in a few days and transfer/drain while cold into a jug then add k-meta/sorbate... easier said than done... I have never done it and read that cold crashing doesn't work well at stopping a fermentation. Finally with that sludge it is nearly impossible to measure accurately the SG so it will be a lot of guessing as to when attempting to stop it...

 

[Treeman]

I'd let it go dry and then top it up after racking with some low alcohol wine or a low alcohol infusion of cinnamon or nutmeg. Sorbate once it is clear and then back sweeten. Between the topping up and back sweetening, you can get it back to 14% pretty easily as long as you don't lose to much pumpkin flavor in the dilution.


Cheers!

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I really enjoy pumpkin wine

 

[Julie]

No signs of fermentation after 24 hours so I pitched the EC-1118 and it is very active now but I am disappointed.
I wanted residual sugar and final SG under 14%. Now it might be 18% alcohol which is not appealing and dry. I can back sweeten sure but the alcohol bite at 18% might never go away... I actually considered dumping the whole thing just before adding the EC-1118.
Part of me is also considering trying to cold crash it in a few days and transfer/drain while cold into a jug then add k-meta/sorbate... easier said than done... I have never done it and read that cold crashing doesn't work well at stopping a fermentation. Finally with that sludge it is nearly impossible to measure accurately the SG so it will be a lot of guessing as to when attempting to stop it...

This is one of the biggest reasons why I and others constantly say to only add enough sugar to ferment to dry and backsweeten after fermentation. You can start another batch but keep the alcohol low and then blend the two.

 

[Turock]

And it would be good to bag the pumpkin so you don't have to deal with all the debris in the must.